Boiled pork ribs are pink in some spots?

Question

My dad decided to make ribs so he put them in a roast pan, filled it with water until the ribs were completely submerged, covered it, and cooked it in the oven for almost 3 hours at 400 degrees. While we were eating we noticed pink spots here and there, did we just get food poisoning?

Answer

Was he making rib soup??

Answer

Use calibrated meat thermometer. 145° F @ thickest part not touching bone is ideal. Without a meat thermometer you are only guessing. The FDA lowered the recommendation in recent years to 145° F for pork when previous recommendation had been 160° F. I grew up overcooking pork to where it was tough to cut and dry never pink in the center - in the last decade or so figured out how to properly cook pork and now enjoy it much more - especially lean cuts such as pork loin or chops. Pork cooks like boneless skinless chicken breast or lean steak where when overcooked results suck compared to what is possible. To properly cook meat an instant read thermometer is very important - got one can calibrate in boiling / freezing water at BBB a few years back for under $10 and it still works fine (goes from 0° F to 220° F). 

Here is a past Chowhound thread is a similar discussion with many replies with a picture by OP titled, "Pink pork tenderloin safe to eat?": http://www.chowhound.com/post/pink-pork-tenderloin-safe-eat-903882?commentId=9259431 

TIP: Noticed meat temperature climbs a few degrees when take meat out of the oven. Especially true for a large piece of meat like a roast. If remove at 145° F it will climb to 150° F as meat rests right after removed from heat. For this reason, I usually remove pork at 140° F from heat - yes it is slightly pink in the center when consumed.

Answer

3 hours at 400 F. The ribs are most likely fully cooked. Was the meat falling off the bone?

The pink spots may be due to your meat being pumped or "enhanced". The solution injected into the meat can sometimes create a hammy appearance - pinkish.

Answer

Water boils at 212. Can't get any higher than that. Were they still covered in water after three hours? Even if it took an hour to get up to boiling that's 2 hours for a relatively thin object, so call it two hours at 212. I'd guess you will live if you like well done pork.

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Boiled pork ribs are pink in some spots?

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